West Ham are keen for a move to the Olympic Stadium
Ex-London mayor Ken Livingstone believes West Ham co-owner David Gold's idea to move the club to the 2012 stadium faces serious legal obstacles.
Livingstone helped London win the 2012 Olympics arguing that the stadium would be an athletics venue after the Games.
"There's a legally binding contract between the Mayor and the International Olympic Committee that the stadium will be an athletics venue," he said.
The IOC would also have to approve any change in the stadium's usage.
"If we had said we were building a football stadium, we would not have won," Livingstone told BBC Radio 5 live.
However, Gold has received political support for his idea from Sir Robin Wales, the Mayor of Newham.
One other possibility is to abandon the athletic idea altogether and maybe build a small athletics stadium that can be used for ever
West Ham co-owner David Gold
The Newham Mayor said he "would like West Ham to be in there", adding it was a "sensible solution".
The Newham borough is home to the Premier League team's Upton Park ground as well as the Olympic Stadium, which will host two-thirds of the events at the 2012 Games.
Wales, who sits on the boards of the Olympic Park Legacy Company and Games organiser Locog, said: "My view is to develop the stadium as a football stadium in legacy and use the money from West Ham and the developers to then build a proper athletics offer in London.
He believes there could be "a problem with the legacy" if the club did not move into the £450m stadium.
Gold maintains that a deal for West Ham to relocate there remains a "serious possibility".
"I'm sensing an easing of the stance that it should be a legacy to athletics," the West Ham co-owner told BBC Radio 5 live.
"We have to be more pragmatic. Do we want to have a stadium like we have at Crystal Palace which just deteriorated and rotted away because it wasn't sustainable?
"We believe there is a serious possibility that we could strike a deal that would take West Ham to the Olympic Stadium.
"If that can be done, we would have a super stadium that could take the club to the next level."
Gold and co-owner David Sullivan took over the cash-strapped club last month and immediately confirmed their interest in relocating to the 80,000-capacity Olympic Stadium in Stratford as they try to improve the club finances.
Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell has insisted that keeping the stadium as a grand prix athletics venue was one of the reasons that London bid for the Games, and keeping the running track at the stadium to leave a legacy to athletics in East London remained a strong commitment.
The Olympic Park Legacy Company is to shortly invite bids from businesses that want to apply for a commercial stake in the stadium.
Gold had also floated the idea of West Ham moving to the Olympic venue and then building a separate stadium that could be used for athletic events.
"One other possibility is to abandon the athletic idea altogether and maybe build a small athletics stadium that can be used for ever," he said.
"Not as an Olympic athletics stadium but a regional stadium with seating facility commensurate to their requirements which would be about 5,000."
However, UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner accused the Hammers co-owner of being "patronising".
"When we are told we can go to a little regional athletics stadium, I think this is another example of football rather arrogantly thinking it has all the solutions to sports problems in the UK," said Warner.
The Games are about leaving an "iconic venue for athletes of all ages and abilities to aspire to compete in", he added.
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